When we first revealed the kitchen we had many comments asking for exact measurements of literally every. single. thing. As a total design nerd myself I, too, wanted to see the exact measurements. So we started working on the post that got pushed and pushed due to holiday stuff. Finally, 2 weeks ago it was ready to go except for me writing it (that’s always the hold-up). So when we saw literally the exact same concept published by the super talented Chris loves Julia team, with literally the same graphics, we exploded on slack, jokingly accusing each other of being the mole (Caitlin wanted me to publish the timestamped slack about it all which would be funny but perhaps more in the
“the lady doth protest too much” category). We almost scrapped it entirely but it was almost all done! So much went into it and heck, it’s a different kitchen full of different measurements, therefore full of totally different information. Then we figure if you are renovating you are likely curious about everyone’s measurements and you should definitely check theirs out, too, HERE. I found it so helpful and interesting. So back from the “almost deleted drafts” archive today I have for you all of our kitchen measurements and how I feel about them.
Now there are many measurements that are standard (and even dictated by code) and then there are preferences based ones depending on how you cook, how many cooks are literally in the kitchen, how tall you are, how high you want to reach (how long are your limbs??), how tall your ceilings are, etc. Most of that is based on your own anecdotal experience of being a human being in your own body, in your own kitchen. So this post is obviously all about ours – Emily and Brian Henderson’s bodies and y’all this kitchen functions SO WELL for us to cook in and almost as important, to hang out in.
Most cabinets are 36″ tall and 24″ deep – nothing newsworthy there. What I have found the most interesting and more specific are clearances (the space between furniture even when you have the drawers open) and adjustable heights of things that come from the ceiling. So as you can see the clearance between the sink cabinet and the island is big – weighing in at 50″ wide. Now 40″ is ample clearance (much less is also very doable if you don’t have a dishwasher). We were nervous that it would be too wide and feel vacuous, but y’all, it’s wonderful. I want to, of course, state the obvious that many kitchens can’t warrant this much clearance so just saying “more space is awesome” can be unhelpful to people. But if you are wondering if going larger on the clearances has its downsides I’ll tell you right now that we haven’t found one yet. The kids can unload the dishwasher and while I’m begging them to do so, I can chop onions and Brian can be at the stove – we can spread out easily on this side of the island.
You’ll notice the vintage island is higher than the cabinets – and no one has ever noticed. If you are wondering why we didn’t take the upper fridge cabinets to the ceiling it’s because when we ordered the cabinets (from Unique Kitchen and Baths) we hadn’t built the ceilings yet so we decided to do them lower and fill in with white oak whatever was left.
Also a random note – 2″ is ALWAYS bigger than you think it is. I think we talk about 2″ like it’s nothing, so I’m always surprised when a 2″ thick something is actually pretty thick (generally 1 1/2″ thick for a shelf or a stile/rail is plenty).
I think I stressed about the height of the fridge handle for so long that Jamie just DID IT, thank god. As you can see, the bottom of out pull handle started at 35.5″ – but ultimately just put your hand on your fridge as if you were going to pull and then screw it in where your hand naturally lands (I think I was afraid of it interacting with the horizontal panel in an odd way). You’ll notice that the bottom of the bulb of our pendants landed at 40.5″ which is higher than it needs to be but it’s perfect in here since our ceilings are very tall on that half of the kitchen. If we had lower ceilings they could have been closer to 36″. But honestly I’d rather have them above even the tallest person’s head so that the light doesn’t shine in their eyes let alone block conversation (so err on the side of higher).
As you know we divided up the cabinets there into three little drawers, one big and two small and while that cost a decent amount more to do (full custom) I will say that those tiny little drawers are far less annoying than you’d think. They are essentially three small junk drawers, but since they are so small nothing gets lost and they can have their own dedication. Also, the Velux Skylights are exactly the width of the Sierra Pacific Windows (at 30″) which was intentional and I love how it turned out.
The height of a floating or bracketed shelf can be SO HARD to determine. We found that 18″ gives us enough height to work underneath it, but since our paneling lined up at 17″ Jamie installed it there (which works perfectly). The depth of the shelves is 11.5″ which is great because much deeper (more than 14″) and things get lost/hard to put away and less than 10″ is not enough space for a lot of plates. So keeping them around 12″ is the sweet spot.
Me, for scale. Weighing in at 5’3″ 🙂 I don’t think we missed one measurement in this kitchen (thank you Mal for the many Facetimes pulling this together). But certainly, let me know any questions in the comments. I will say I have zero placement regrets to tell you about, thank goodness but I know that when you are in the middle of a kitchen remodel it feels like a wrong measurement can be life or death 🙂 Hopefully, this post can help. xx
Kitchen Resources:
Cabinetry: Unique Kitchens & Baths (Get 10% off with the code “EH2022”)
Countertops: Bedrosians Tile & Stone
White Oak Windows and Doors: Sierra Pacific Windows
Skylights: Velux
Tile: Pratt + Larson
Appliances (sans Fridge and Freezer): Build with Ferguson
Fridge and Freezer: BlueStar
Flooring: Zena Forest Products(Oregon grown and milled)
Lighting, Switches, Outlets, and Sink: Rejuvenation
Wall Color: Sherwin Williams, “Extra White”
Faucets: deVOL Kitchens
Vintage Island: Aurora Mills
Counter Stools: Fernweh Woodworking
Rug: District Loom
Brass Gallery Rods: Pepe and Carols
*Design by Emily Henderson and ARCIFORM
*Photos by Kaitlin Green
Thank you, this is really helpful info! I’m sure I’ll be referring back to it whenever needed!
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This is such an incredibly helpful post! When I was planning my kitchen I imagined some things would look like inspiration kitchens without realizing that their spaces were so much larger! For example I wanted shelves on either side of my range hood but there just isn’t enough space for it to be worth it but I couldn’t visualize that until after.
It’s gorgeous. I feel like rich red/warm vintage rugs rather than in cool blue family would add something.
I will never tire of looking at pictures of this kitchen!!
Same. The mountain house was my dream kitchen but the more I study this one the more I think it’s the one I’d replicate. If I ever find myself building new that it.
Wait, this seemed like it was going to be totally boring (ew, numbers!) but it, like, WASN’T. Kinda blown away by the island clearance thing – now I want to leave more space around mine in my new kitchen.
I am really happy to see all these microdetails! Agree about wide aisles in the kitchen – I had 48″ ones in my last kitchen and loved it. Planning for similar in this upcoming kitchen reno in the new house. I will also have an exterior door opening into the kitchen between the fridge and island, so it was great to see that five-ish feet passage there is working for you in an identical layout 😀 I’m bookmarking this FOR SURE.
Whoo! That’s a LOT of work yo pull it all together.
So glad you didn’t nix it.
Given the global readership, it would be helpful to have had centimetres and metres, too.
Love this kitchen sooo much, every time my eyeballs land on it.
I would recommend looking at the manufacturer’s recommendations for hood distance from top of range. They differ based on model.
Check both the hood and the range recommendations, they are rarely the same. This Faber Inca Pro hood has a required 24” minimum clearance while the Aga Elise range has, I think, a 31.5” minimum clearance requirement.
I hope you will do these for other types of rooms too (including pantry). Very helpful.
Interesting post…. I’m curious about how you decided upon and now how you feel about the kinda narrow entry door in the kitchen . It’s 34″ when standard is 36′”. Id love to hear about your choice. I see why you did it with the fridge where it is .. how are you liking it ? Personally I find I want doors to be as wide as possible.. I’d have been be tempted to make it it extra wide – 42″.. I know you are trying to avoid the kitchen as thoroughfare.. and it would def be weird to have a wide door opening to a fridge .. Did you go through iterations to decide on the narrow door? Im curious …
I used to have to take as-built measurements as part of my job. This brought back a bit of trauma. hahahaha. BUT SO HELPFUL. ’tis no easy task to gather all of this.
I measure about 5 times before I believe it! 🤣🤣
Eleventeen, onety, one!
also interested in door width choice. it’s code here to require 36″ width.
I have now confirmed that this room is bigger than my kitchen, dining room, and living room combined 😂
Not shocking at all that after doing similar work you’d have a similar way of sharing details! Love and deeply understand Caitlin’s millennial urge to show the receipts though haha.
The Spruce has good basic graphics about the NKBA guidelines here: https://www.thespruce.com/kitchen-space-design-1822138. You can purchase the NKBA book digitally on Amazon or Apple—search for: NKBA Kitchen & Bath Planning Guidelines : With Support Spaces and Accessibility (4th edition). Or buy the hard copy from the NKBA: https://nkba.org/product/nkba-kitchen-bath-planning-guidelines-spiral-bound/
I appreciate your detailed information on your projects! So many designers are not so forthcoming. Confused about the 34.5” width labeled for the right hand bar cabinet. Also, can you do one of these posts for the Portland kitchen?
That is a typo. The right cabinet is the Viking 15 Inch Wide 26 Lbs. Capacity Built-In Ice Maker with Nugget Ice
Model:FGNI515 which requires a 14 7/8” wide custom panel.
We put even more space in our aisles. My husband has this special talent for making me be in his way when we’re in the kitchen and the extra space is very helpful :). We do 54″ between the countertop edges. We’ve done it in 2 kitchens now and it’s awesome. They were not especially large rooms, either, but the more generous passageway makes it feel reasonable for more than one or two people to be in the kitchen together.
Incredibly generous of you to provide all of these measurements. I’m sure this was a very time consuming post to produce. Thank you. I hope you don’t mind me asking this after all of your efforts, but how wide is the cabinet to the right of the range on the side by the living room? I see the cabinet to the left of the range on the window side is 24″.
I would LOVE to see a post on kitchen hardware with all the diff styles (Art Deco, Mid Mod, Farmhouse Trad, etc). SO hard to figure out when there are so many options for not only style but also handles/knobs for a large kitchen.
Also, when we were designing our kitchen, we put down legos and tape to make sure we had enough room around the island for walking, opening dishwasher and oven doors, refrigerator, etc. Very helpful to visualize!
What about your denim
Blazer? 🙏🤞
I think that’s the Alex Mill Britt Work Jacket in Railroad Stripe. The Alex Mill website doesn’t currently have the striped one listed (https://www.alexmill.com/search?q=britt&type=product) but here it is on another website: https://www.aggregatesupplysf.com/women/alex-mill-britt-work-jacket-railroad-stripe-indigo-ivory. Emily has worn & recommended the Britt Work Jacket in other posts & also has it cobalt recycled denim.
I like the blazer too.
Oops! I think you meant the blazer in the the very first photo, not the denim jacket in the last photo–sorry for the extra info you didn’t ask for! Hopefully someone will give a link for the blazer!
Update: I’m pretty sure in the first photo that Emily is wearing the Brushed Larsen Blazer from Madewell (now sold out). It’s actually a wool blend. She’s also wearing it here in this post: https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/madewell-fall-sale-review.
I always wondered about the width of the doorways, they looked narrow to me. I guess I wasn’t aware there was a standard width.
I guess if you don’t go in and out with bags of groceries then its fine.
But the kitchen exit door way looks very narrow.
It’s because the door is extra tall (like a foot taller than normal) so the proportions appear very skinny. But it’s not truly narrow.
I think the fact that there is no trim casing out the door also makes it seem narrower. (I’m used to casing that matches the door, or at least is distinct from the walls, which I think reads as all part of the door width.)
As someone who is starting a kitchen renovation in 3 weeks I’m so glad you decided to publish this post!! I was delighted to see and Julia both do posts like this! Do you have 12 inch appliance pulls on your fridge & freezer?
They look closer in size to the height of the cabinets above the fridge (14.5”) than to the height of the shelf to the right of the fridge (19”) so I would guess the 12”.
This is so helpful, thanks for posting!
For kitchen aisles, I love 54″w if you have room, but I’ve done as narrow as 39″ and it worked very well so don’t worry about going that narrow (it’s actually shown in Emily’s last book, on the facing page of the chapter on Kitchens).